The advantages of the invention can be most quickly understood when discussed in terms of the manufacture of business forms; however, it will be appreciated that the invention is adapted for many diverse applications. In the manufacture of business forms, particularly when increased production is desired, the art has turned to wider machines. In a typical business form machine, webs are unwound from parent rolls, directed through printing units, thereafter conducted through processing units (commonly referred to as "specifications") which can include operations such as across perforation, pinhole punching, crash numbering, crimp locking, line-hole punching, etc., and are thereafter zigzag folded. When the art has faced the problem of needed increased production, these machines have been made wider. Where the printing mechanism has been made wider, immediate disadvantages attend. The widening of the printing press plate has necessitated increasing the diameter, which, in turn, necessitated additional plates, creating problems of register, cost of the machine, etc. The advantages of the narrow parent rolls of web material, which include superior quality and greater handleability are also lost when wider machines are turned to. In particular, the various specifications have to be duplicated across the web when wider machines are utilized. These disadvantages are avoided, and corresponding advantages provided through the practice of the invention.
.Iadd.This application is a reissue of application Ser. No. 859,020 filed Sept. 18, 1969, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,899 issued Aug. 3, 1971.